even though the maps are even a little outdated (I haven't updated since I bought the unit. It is an "almost never" type of issue. I know of 2 places where construction has changed the roads since I got my GPS).

Figure out what's important to you: Is it screen size? Do you want it to say street names? Blue tooth? Traffic updates? Map update cost? Ease of programming?

Just figure out what you want and then let the sales clerk explain the differences and dis/advantages of each. Also have the sales rep walk you through the process of mapping a destination with each one.

By "outdoor" I mean one of those units that you use hiking away from roads. A lot of them have digital compasses.

I am used to mariner type units on the water, but that is different from the units showing the topography of the land, the mountains, the rise and fall of the ground, contours, etc., and being able to backtrack and all that.

The 4 or 5 hundred dollar models will do anything including giving you voice directions in a car, but will also show you the contours of the earth, valleys, rises, hills, streams, etc.
I am more interested in the simpler ones that just have what appears to be simple line outlines of topography, lakes, coastal outlines, for 1 to 2 hundred dollars.

I have to decide (like you said) what I need and want, not what they are offering. One clerk seemed to know less than I.

for sense of direction what the calculator did for basic math skills. Or what the handheld device did for the human attention span.

I have so many great memories of "getting lost" driving with my parents when I was little...pops would call it a "shortcut", moms would chime in "one of your father's longcuts again", and when we would ask "are we really lost?, moms would say "as long as we're together we can't be lost".

I love maps. I use them all the time. Road maps for driving, forest service maps for hiking, reading maps is a handy skill.

And as someone who for decades has railed against velcro shoes and digital watches (omg! we are raising children who cannot tie their shoes or tell time!), I will surely bemoan the end of map-reading as a survival skill.

Before map quest, I finally came up with a way to cut my getting lost down by 60%. When I came to a point where I had to make a decision on which way to go, I would figure it out logically and then turn in the opposite direction. That method reduced the number of times I got lost. ;o)

Although I have a real problem with the N/S/E/W and right/left concepts. It doesn't come naturally to me, and I have to really plan ahead on my next statement if I'm giving directions to someone or I will surely say the wrong direction.

It was a real shock to me to realize that I had that problem. My sister just laughed and asked why else I thought she "my side" or "your side" when we first moved to Denver and were exploring the city.

The homing instinct is a decent substitute for myself, but doesn't work so well for my companions. It's embarrassing to always be saying that I meant the other left.

Zorba son into joining your pirate crew. It's like he has a built-in GPS. He never gets lost, and always knows which direction is which, even when he's somewhere unfamiliar on an overcast day with no particularly outstanding landmarks. Maybe he has a compass in his brain or something, but it has always amazed both Mr. Z and myself, and Mr. Z is no slouch at finding his way, either. (He is totally unlike his sister, who can get lost going somewhere close by that she's been to numerous times.)
PS I'm not getting a GPS, either. And I still have my "stupid phone."

I drove my friend crazy when we visited NYC because I was constantly checking our position against the map.

But you can't drive and read the map. And if I hadn't had a GPS when I got to Baltimore I would have either hightailed it back home or become a hermit. Denver is based on the grid system.

Baltimore -- isn't. It's designed for defense and taking the wrong turn can spit you out somewhere you weren't expecting long after you wanted to be spit out. DC is even worse in that regard. And don't even get me started on I-95/I-295/I-395/I-495/I-695/I-795/I-895 thing. It took me over a year to figure out which 95s I needed to care about. Naturally, that is how everyone gave directions.

Now I hardly need it at all. But I still keep it handy. I left it at home once when taking a different way home and ended up taking about an extra 20 miles and one hour to get there.

I can get around in Baltimore. Boston is impossible. (And the drivers seem to be much more aggressive and are ruder. I've never heard so much honking as I did there, except for Manhattan, which has a whole lot more drivers.)

a couple of years ago. At the beginning of the trip, my boyfriend and I were stuck in the airport due to one of Atlanta's famous thunderstorms.
We got to talking to a very funny Boston native about driving. We said in Atlanta, traffic lights are regarded as just a suggestion. She said in Boston, obeying them is considered a sign of weakness!

Out West I know my way around and I can see where I'm headed, we don't have this tree problem out there. Living on the East side of the continent now though, I must have GPS or I'm literally lost forever in the kudzu jungle, dead in the water.

But I see the use of GPS even if I don't use it as it's intended. Basically I use GPS to look up an address quickly rather than searching the map for it by eye, and then I use their maps to plot my own route.

I do find it a usefull tool to find an end destination, I just ignore most of the routing, and having it via GPS rather than just on a map at home means you can constantly look for new places as needed, for a short pit stop or if you get lost.

GPS routing in Boston is just terrible. It gives the weirdest directions that send you a mile out of the way. Plus it really can't handle anything big-dig/construction related. Then there is the problem of "which one are you looking for?" I recently discovered there are at least 3 locations in Boston that qualify as "the corner of Tremont Street and Tremont Street" - silly me thought there were only 2. There are also at least 5 distinct Washington Streets in Boston. I'm not talking one long street through different hoods, these are completely seperate streets that do not connect in any way. And this is why we are terrible drivers. People can barely figure it out, computers haven't got a chance.

before I read your comment. You are just so correct about Boston. Streets with the same names. Streets that change names for no particular reason. I can (more or less) get around there on the T, but I would no more drive there than I would fly to the moon. Fortunately, we don't live there, just visit from time to time.

if it's from growing up here or what but I actually have a very good sense of east/west north/south direction. Because when in doubt, ignore street names and just drive the direction you need to go. The streets can't be trusted, but if you keep pointing your car in the right direction, you'll get there eventually.

I have had the unpleasant experience of driving in Boston with a rental car, and I will never, ever, ever do that again. I have had no problems using the T, the occasional bus, and maps. (But then, we normally don't go to "out of the way" places, and if we do, we depend upon our friends who live there to drive us or give us explicit directions.) We lived in Boston for a few years, many, many long years ago, but we were poor graduate students and didn't have a car. All of our "getting around" was on the T, buses, on foot, and the occasional ride with friends. We still use these methods when we visit there. ;-)

and still can't see what is so bad...Little Johnny wants a NFL jersey for Christmas, mom and dad are broke, so they buy the 30 dolla knock-off that looks authentic...everybody wins, even the NFL...another kid marketing the sh*t out of their product.

Barney Frank arrived in Congress two years after I did and quickly became the bane of right wingers with his intellect and razor wit. (His crack about pro-lifers is immortal: "Their commitment to life begins at conception and ends at birth!")

Barney might have held on if he thought the Democrats would take back control of the House, but I can't of course prove it. He is 71, after all. It's never a good omen when a part loses some of its best talent. The retirement of Congressman Dave Obey (D-WI) in 2010 is another example.

at least what he's said publicy is that redistricting had a big role to play here too. His new district is almost nothing like his old district so he would have had to really campaign in a lot of new areas, and it seems like he just didn't feel like doing that, especially after the last election which was somewhat contested.

He's 71, he has a phenomenal record, and I think he's just done. But we'll definitely miss him.

I love his quip about how he doesn't "have to pretend to be nice to people I don't like," anymore. Typical Barney.

This is the first season that I've watched the show consistently, and most weeks I have disagreed with the judges about who belongs in the bottom two. I definitely think they sent the wrong person home last night. Savory ice creams like what Elizabeth Falkner made are just gimmicks.

the bottom last night; true, her story could have been better, but they loved her food. I agree about the ice cream - ambitious, but really - bagel and cream cheese ice cream? Where the bagel flavor comes from charbroiled bagel crumbs? How did it not taste burned?

The one that keeps getting away with murder is Zakarian, who, week after week, just ignores the rules to stay true to himself; all I can say is, his food must be out-of-this-world because it keeps saving him.